


Virtu - Hunger

by cutsycat



Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1456]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21571459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutsycat/pseuds/cutsycat
Summary: McGee had just joined the MCRT, but he must have miscalculated something as he didn't even have enough money to feed himself.
Series: Dictionary.Com Word of the Day Drabbles [1456]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/444514
Comments: 25
Kudos: 25
Collections: 2019 Gen Angst Week Challenge, The Writer's Guild Community





	Virtu - Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> Another dictionary.com word of the day drabble. This time from 04/26/2003 for the word [virtu](http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/2003/04/26/virtu).
> 
> virtu or ver·tu[ ver-too, vur-too ]  
> noun  
> excellence or merit in objects of art, curios, and the like.  
> (used with a plural verb) such objects or articles collectively.  
> a taste for or knowledge of such objects.
> 
> This is for Day 3 of the Gen Angst Week challenge. Today's prompt is Hunger.

McGee groaned as another check bounced and his credit card was declined too. He needed something to eat, but food wasn’t free. He didn’t know how he was going to get himself out of this one. 

He’d thought that joining the MCRT would be an improvement, but if anything it was even more expensive than being an agent in Norfolk. He didn’t understand it. 

He was earning more money and somehow he was bringing even less home. He kind of regretted letting his old apartment go, but commuting from Norfolk to DC every day had been crazy. When he’d only been on temporary assignment, he’d done it, but he knew it wasn’t sustainable for him. 

Unfortunately, breaking his lease early also had consequences and his new place was exponentially more expensive than his old one. He couldn’t afford to eat and pay for his new apartment. It was galling. He’d even tried reducing his utility use as much as possible and improving the power efficiencies as much as he could, but it still hadn’t helped enough.

He hadn’t even been in the new place for two months and he was already bouncing checks and had maxed out all of his credit cards. He hadn’t expected it to be this bad. He’d tried applying for food stamps, but those wouldn’t start for another month and that was if he was lucky enough to be approved. 

So far he’d managed to avoid bouncing his rent check, but he knew if things continued this way that it wouldn’t be much longer before that one bounced too. He hadn’t had time to make new friends that might be willing to help him out in a pinch, so he was literally on his own. He couldn’t bring himself to stand in front of a restaurant or grocery store and beg for someone to buy him some food, but honestly it wouldn’t be much longer before he would have to choose between begging and starving.

The only people he knew were the others on his team and Abby and he didn’t feel comfortable asking any of them for help. It wasn’t like this was his first job. He should be able to feed himself. 

He’d considered signing up for more hours at work, but he was already putting in 60 hour weeks on the MCRT alone. He couldn’t imagine doing more than that. He truly didn’t know what to do or how he was going to get out of this one.

He’d considered trying to cook all his meals, but he couldn’t even afford to live on top ramen every day. He’d looked into taking the bus instead of his car every day, but not only would that be less reliable, but the bus was actually more expensive than gas for his car. He couldn’t figure out anyway to make the finances work out and he was beyond embarrassed to admit that he needed help with figures.

He was a computer genius for cripes sake. How was it that he couldn’t even make a budget work out? Maybe if he moved to a crappier place? Even the crappy places were expensive, though.

Tim frowned. He knew he couldn’t go on like this for much longer. Not only would he eventually die from hunger, but his stomach was going to reveal his plight pretty soon without any input from him if he didn’t figure out something to feed it at least enough to keep it quiet while he was at NCIS. 

Of course, that was easier said than done when they were on a case. He couldn’t even afford to use the vending machines and there was nothing around that would stave off his hunger when Gibbs forced them to work all night. He honestly wasn’t sure how much longer he could fake being functional. 

He considered it a minor miracle that no one at work had noticed him struggling and knew that it wouldn’t last. In fact if this case didn’t end soon, he might end up passed out in the middle of the bullpen. He couldn’t imagine what Gibbs would do to him if that happened.

His stomach had been making grumbly noises all morning. His only saving grace was that no one had been close enough to him to hear it. Maybe he should chance using his last bit of cash on the vending machines and hope that it was enough to tide him over until the next paycheck, which was… McGee glanced at the date on the computer and frowned… almost another week and a half away. How was he already out of money this fast?

There was no way he was going to last until the next paycheck on the five dollars he had left in cash. Fuck. With this case going non-stop like it was, he had no way to get more money either. 

His bank accounts were run dry. If he could just get a few hours off, he could probably scrounge up something to sell and maybe get some money that way. He glanced up at Gibbs. That didn’t look like it would be happening anytime soon, however.

He wasn’t a big purveyor of virtu, but he was sure he had something that would be worth something in his apartment. With Gibbs refusing to let them leave, he couldn’t really do anything about his hunger or his money problems, however. He kept glancing in the direction of the stairwell, wondering if he dared make a run for the vending machines.

“You got somewhere else to be?” Gibbs snarled and McGee jumped.

“Uh… No, boss. No place to be.”

“Then why do you keep glancing at the stairwell?”

Before McGee could come up with a valid reason for glancing at the stairwell regularly, his stomach let out a roar. Since the entire team was focused on him and waiting for an answer, everyone heard it. McGee blushed and sunk down lower in his seat, trying to hide. He wished the ground would just swallow him up.

“You know, boss, I’m kind of hungry too,” Tony piped up.

Gibbs leveled a glare at each and every member of the team before finally growling, “Get back to work. I’ll go scrounge up some food for all of us.”

McGee breathed a sigh of relief. If the boss was paying, then the food crisis was solved for now. Of course, that didn’t make figuring out food for tomorrow any easier, but for now he was just going to be very grateful that he didn’t have to figure out how to live off of air today. Now if only he could find a clue for this case, so that they could all go home for the day. That would make this day even better.

**Author's Note:**

> The dictionary.com series has no stories already written for it after this one, so I will be posting at least no more stories before I stop posting again. I'm hoping to get more stories written before then, so that I don't stop posting for a while. Wish me luck! 
> 
> It's 2019 now and I have closed my 2018 Prompt collection, but fear not my 2019 Prompt Collection is now open [here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/cutsycat_NCIS_Prompts_2019/profile). Just click the sign up link. ;) It will remain open until the beginning of 2020. I'm hoping to complete all the 2019 prompts by the end of 2020. Do not fear I have not forgotten about the 2018 prompts and will continue working through them. It's just easier for me to not get overwhelmed if I keep the prompts separated by the year they were given to me.
> 
> If you are not an ao3 member, you can prompt me [here](http://cutsycat.livejournal.com/50701.html). Please follow the same rules as are listed in the above link. However, because this is a handmade prompt form(that thinks it's a poll), it is considerably more limited than what ao3 provides, so please use the ao3 form if you're an ao3 member. Please note the name option is for a name that I can say this is for so that you know it's for you. Since this is for non ao3 members it won't be true gifts, but you will be mentioned in the notes. Please note if you have already voted in the poll and would like to request more stories you can just add a comment to the poll. Please include the name along with the prompt, so that I can appropriately gift the prompt to you.
> 
> For any authors that want to chat and/or are looking for a place where they can toss plot ideas around and get input from people, you can come join my discord server that is specifically geared towards writing/encouraging people to write and authors. The invite link is [here](https://discord.gg/HFvwpCq). If you're not an author, but want to chat with me about writing/stories or anything else you are welcome to join. I reserve the right to boot you from my server if all you do is pester me about updates, however. *grin* Really anyone who wants to talk about writing and/or plot ideas for various stories is welcome to join. 
> 
> Also, Drakonyashka has translated a couple of my works into Russian. [Tutelage](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378780) and [Imbue](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12378840). Go support them. 


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